1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hearing aid with which a sound signal inputted from a television set or other such external device to an external input terminal (external input signal) is also outputted to a receiver in addition to a sound signal acquired by a microphone (microphone input signal).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent years have seen proposals for a hearing aid with which the sound from a television set, a CD player, or another such external device is received directly from an external input terminal by wired or wireless means (such as Bluetooth), rather than being picked up through a microphone.
With such a hearing aid, the sound from a television set, a CD player, or another such external device can be enjoyed as clear, noise-free sound, making these hearing aids very popular with users.
On the other hand, with these hearing aids there is the possibility that the user will not be able to hear a family conversation received by the microphone when, for example, the family is seated at the dining table while watching television.
In view of this, Patent Literature 1 has disclosed a hearing aid with which a sound signal inputted by wire or wirelessly from a television set, an audio device, or another such external device to an external input terminal (external input signal) is mixed with a sound signal acquired by a microphone provided to the hearing aid (microphone input signal), and the mixed signal is provided from a receiver to the user.
With this hearing aid, if the sound pressure level of the sound signal acquired by the microphone (microphone input signal) is over a specified level, processing is performed to weaken the sound signal from the external device (external input signal), thereby solving the above-mentioned problem.